Date of Promulgation: June 20, 2003

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1. The Ministry of Labor (hereinafter referred to as the “Ministry”) has established these Directions to ensure the effective use of the Welfare Fund of Commercial Port Dues (hereinafter referred to as the “Fund”) for improving the quality of workforce services provided by port-related labor unions and other related purposes.
2. The Fund shall be allocated to labor unions whose members are workers engaged in water-surface, land-based, underwater, or other operations involving vessel entry and departure, berthing, cargo loading and unloading, warehousing, lighterage, passenger services, port tourism, or free trade port zone operations within any of the following commercial port areas:
(1) Port of Keelung.
(2) Port of Su-Ao.
(3) Port of Taichung.
(4) Port of Kaohsiung.
(5) Port of Hualien.
(6) Port of Anping.
(7) Port of Taipei.
(8) Port of Budai.
3. The Fund shall be allocated according to the following standards:
(1) 50% of the total amount shall be allocated according to the membership-size tier of each labor union.
(2) 30% of the total amount shall be allocated according to the nature of each labor union’s work and its relevance to port operations.
(3) 20% of the total amount shall be allocated according to the classification of each labor union. The formulas for calculating the allocation standards specified in the subparagraphs of the preceding paragraph shall be determined by the Ministry’s Management Committee for the Welfare Fund of Commercial Port Dues (hereinafter referred to as the “Management Committee”).
4. Labor unions may use their allocations from the Fund for the following purposes:
(1) Education and training: Matters concerning the content, methods, number of hours, and expenditure of funds are set out in Appendix 1.
(2) Emergency assistance: The amount of assistance shall not exceed NT$60,000 per person. However, under exceptional circumstances and subject to special approval by the Management Committee, up to twice that amount may be granted.
(3) Group occupational accident insurance or condolence payments: Group occupational accident insurance coverage shall not exceed NT$1 million per person, and condolence payments shall not exceed NT$100,000 per person.
(4) Retirement assistance: The amount of assistance shall not exceed NT$150,000 per person. However, under exceptional circumstances and subject to special approval by the Management Committee, up to twice that amount may be granted.
(5) Member welfare: Welfare benefits shall not exceed NT$10,000 per person.
(6) Administrative expenses: Such expenses shall not exceed 10% of the total allocation for the year concerned. Expenditure on the education and training specified in Subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph shall account for no less than 30% of the allocation. The Ministry may adjust this percentage where necessary. Any balance remaining from a labor union’s allocation for a given year shall be carried forward for use in the following year and may be used only for the purposes specified in Subparagraphs 1 to 5 of Paragraph 1.
5. Upon its dissolution, a labor union may, in addition to using its allocation from the Fund in accordance with the preceding point, provide retirement assistance to members who do not meet the retirement eligibility requirements by applying mutatis mutandis the payment standards prescribed in its fund utilization rules formulated pursuant to Point 8. Where a person who has received retirement assistance pursuant to the preceding paragraph subsequently joins another labor union, no labor union may provide that person with any further retirement assistance pursuant to the preceding point or the preceding paragraph. Where any balance remains after a dissolved labor union uses its allocation in accordance with the preceding point and Paragraph 1, the labor union shall submit the matter to the special municipality or county (city) government in which the relevant commercial port area is located (hereinafter referred to as the “local competent authority”) for review. The local competent authority shall then remit the balance to the Ministry on the labor union’s behalf.
6. The Ministry shall establish the Management Committee to ensure the effective use and management of the Fund. The Management Committee shall consist of twelve to fifteen members. One member shall serve as convener, a position held concurrently by the Minister of Labor or a person designated by the Minister. The remaining members shall comprise representatives appointed by the following authorities and organizations:
(1) One or two representatives of the Ministry of Labor.
(2) One representative of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan.
(3) One representative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
(4) One representative of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
(5) One representative of the Labor Affairs Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government.
(6) One representative of the Keelung City Government.
(7) One representative of the Labor Affairs Department, New Taipei City Government.
(8) One representative of the Labor Affairs Bureau, Taichung City Government.
(9) One representative of the Yilan County Government.
(10) One representative of the Hualien County Government.
(11) One to three representatives of national labor organizations. The Management Committee shall have one executive secretary and three to five officers, all of whom shall be concurrently appointed by the Ministry from among its personnel. Members of either gender shall constitute no less than one-third of the total membership of the Management Committee. All members shall serve without remuneration. Members of the Management Committee shall serve a term of two years and may be reappointed or reassigned upon expiration of their terms. A member serving as the representative of an authority or organization shall be replaced upon a change in the member’s primary position.
7. The duties of the Management Committee are as follows:
(1) Reviewing the recipients eligible for allocations from the Fund and their eligibility requirements.
(2) Establishing the allocation standards for the Fund.
(3) Reviewing the budgets and final accounts for allocations from the Fund.
(4) Planning, supervising, and evaluating the use of the Fund.
(5) Handling other matters relating to the use of the Fund.
8. A labor union meeting the requirements of Point 2 shall formulate fund utilization rules and apply to the local competent authority for an allocation from the Fund by January 31 of each year. Upon accepting an application under the preceding paragraph, the local competent authority shall immediately conduct a preliminary review and forward the application to the Ministry for deliberation. The fund utilization rules formulated by a labor union pursuant to Paragraph 1 shall comply with Points 4 and 5.
9. An applicant for an allocation from the Fund pursuant to the preceding point shall submit paper and electronic copies of the following documents:
(1) Application form.
(2) Membership roster as of December 31 of the year preceding the application.
(3) Annual revenue and expenditure budget.
(4) Annual work plan.
(5) Statement of the utilization and final accounts of the Welfare Fund of Commercial Port Dues for the preceding year.
(6) The labor union’s fund utilization rules.
(7) Minutes of the labor union’s general meeting of members or meeting of its board of directors and supervisors.
(8) Where Article 14 of the Act on Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflicts of Interest applies, the Disclosure Form for the Status and Relationship of Public Servants and Related Persons under Paragraph 2 of Article 14 of that Act (Appendix 2).
(9) Other documents designated by the Ministry. Where an applicant applies to two or more authorities for subsidies for the same project, the applicant shall specify the complete expenditure details and the items and amounts for which subsidies have been requested from each authority.
10. The Ministry shall not accept an application by a labor union for an allocation from the Fund under any of the following circumstances:
(1) The application is submitted after the application period prescribed in Paragraph 1 of Point 8.
(2) The submitted documents are incomplete, and the applicant fails to provide the required supplementation or correction within the period specified in the notice.
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11. The requirements governing requests for disbursement, expenditure reporting, and the retention of expenditure vouchers for allocations from the Fund are as follows:
(1) Upon receiving notice from the Ministry approving the subsidy amount, a subsidized labor union shall submit a receipt, a statement of the utilization of the allocation, and a copy of the relevant financial institution account information. The union shall provide a detailed account of the purposes of expenditure and the total actual expenditure. Where the same project is subsidized by two or more authorities, the actual subsidy amount provided by each authority shall be specified. These documents shall be submitted to the Ministry for disbursement and expenditure reporting.
(2) Expenditure on education and training from an allocation under the Fund shall be handled in accordance with these Directions. All other expenditure shall comply with the Ministry’s standard criteria for commonly budgeted expenditures and its directions governing expenditure reporting. Any procurement shall also be conducted in accordance with the Government Procurement Act and other applicable provisions.
(3) Expenditure vouchers relating to an allocation from the Fund shall be retained by the subsidized labor union and shall be properly preserved and destroyed in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Financial Management of Labor Unions, the Regulations Governing the Financial Management of Civil Associations, and other applicable provisions. Where any voucher is destroyed before the prescribed retention period expires, or is damaged or lost, the labor union shall explain the reason and handling of the matter and obtain the Ministry’s approval in writing.
(4) When applying for funds, a subsidized labor union shall, in accordance with the principle of good faith, be responsible for the occurrence and authenticity of the expenditures claimed in connection with its use of the subsidy. Where any claim is false, the labor union shall bear the relevant liability. The Ministry shall establish a control mechanism to inspect the expenditure vouchers referred to in Subparagraph 3 of the preceding paragraph and shall prepare records of such inspections. Where a subsidized labor union fails to comply with the requirements, the Ministry may, depending on the severity of the circumstances, reduce subsequent subsidies for the project or the labor union, or suspend subsidies to the labor union for a period of one to five years.
12. Where a labor union submits a false application, uses its allocation from the Fund ineffectively, fails to use the allocation for the approved purposes, falsely or fraudulently reports expenditure, inflates expenditure, or otherwise violates these Directions, the Ministry shall deny the subsidy unless otherwise provided in these Directions. Where a subsidy has already been granted, the Ministry shall revoke or rescind the grant, determine the amount to be returned by written administrative disposition, and order its return within a specified period. Under any circumstance specified in the preceding paragraph, the Ministry may also suspend subsidies to the labor union for a period of one to five years, depending on the severity of the circumstances.
13. The local competent authority shall directly supervise, provide guidance on, and evaluate each labor union’s use of its allocation from the Fund. Where necessary, the Management Committee may conduct an inspection.